Thursday, November 19, 2015

Europe is Going to Clamp Down on Bitcoin to Try to Stop Terrorism Funding

European Union countries plan a crackdown on virtual currencies and anonymous payments made online and via pre-paid cards in a bid to tackle terrorism financing after the Paris attacks, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

EU interior and justice ministers will gather in Brussels on Friday for a crisis meeting called after the Paris attacks of last weekend.

They will urge the European Commission, the EU executive arm, to propose measures to "strengthen controls of non-banking payment methods such as electronic/anonymous payments and virtual currencies and transfers of gold, precious metals, by pre-paid cards," draft conclusions of the meeting said.

I understand there is an on-going investigation of some Bitcoin trades made by individuals in the Bitcoin community who may have not been aware of bad guys on the opposite end of some the transactions. Nevertheless, the transactions were done in violation of current anti-money laundering regulations, which will be enough to hang them.